Fifty years ago Stan Cullis's Wolverhampton Wanderers came to White Hart Lane as league champions and were beaten 5-1 by Bill Nicholson's emerging Tottenham team. Bobby Smith scored four times and the afternoon was further brightened by a visitor from Hollywood, Jayne Mansfield, lending a rare touch of glamour to the directors' box.

Like poor old Jayne, Harry Redknapp's Spurs are an ambitious, slightly brittle talent lacking the more profound qualities that turn promise into lasting success. They can wipe the floor with poor defences, witness the 9-1 thrashing of Wigan in their previous home game, but on Saturday struggled to find the imagination to untangle the defensive web woven by Wolves once Mick McCarthy's side had taken an early lead.

His team having kept Tottenham out for another 87 minutes, plus six of stoppage time, McCarthy, tough as an old shinpad, was inclined to be matter-of-fact about one of the season's more surprising victories. No, he had not come to Spurs expecting to win but neither had he expected to be hammered. "Marcus Hahnemann's not been diving around making saves everywhere," he said. "We have not won back-to-back Premier League games for about 300 years but we're not cannon fodder when we go away."

Saturday's win took Wolves out of the bottom three but the respite may be brief and they have lost David Edwards for a while with damaged ankle ligaments. Tomorrow they visit Manchester United and over the holiday period their opponents include Liverpool and Manchester City. While winning at Spurs will have reinforced their confidence, the pattern of the few victories Wolves have achieved since winning promotion suggests that much depends on their scoring quickly.

They won at Wigan in August with a goal after six minutes and a goal in the third minute set them up for the victory over Bolton at Molineux which preceded Saturday's success. McCarthy's players seem admirably suited to the nitty-gritty of defending in strength and depth.

Spurs were consistently frustrated by the determination with which the opposition fell back behind the ball to confront them with a nine- or even 10-man barrier of bodies. "They know how to work like that in every game," said McCarthy. "If we have any passengers we're knackered."

Where Wolves have found problems this season is in chasing games once they have fallen behind as recent 4-1 and 4-0 maulings by Arsenal and Chelsea testify, when they lost possession and became exposed by incisive counter-attacks.

Tottenham were anything but incisive. They were caught cold in the third minute, when Kevin Doyle rose well to meet a swinging free-kick from Nenad Milijas on the right to guide the ball down inside the far post with the slightest of glances, and struggled to raise the temperature and tempo of their game thereafter.

In their previous home defeat, 1-0 by Stoke City in October, Spurs had numerous scoring opportunuties but failed to take them; on Saturday they did not even create that many chances. Hahnemann's only strenuous save involved diving to push away a shot on the turn from Tom Huddlestone late in the match. Luka Modric, back after breaking a fibula in August, has the sort of skill and subtlety these occasions demand and came on for the last half-hour but the Croatian needs more games.

An ineffectual Robbie Keane eventually gave way to Peter Crouch, which is Redknapp's usual response when his attack is getting bogged down on the ground. Crouch's height will always be a threat in theory but there it will remain if the service is poor. Two other attacking alternatives, Roman Pavlyuchenko and David Bentley, were not among the substitutes, Redknapp explaining that the pair had not done well enough in training to be included and maybe giving a hint about what to expect in the transfer window, when the Spurs manager will have to sell to buy.

As the players left the pitch at the end there was a confrontation involving Benoît Assou-Ekotto, Tottenham's Cameroonian left-back, and a disappointed supporter, followed by talk about police and club investigations. This is what happens when you do not score nine every week.